Virgin boss warns government on Qantas

More than 30,000 Qantas employees face wage cuts and a nervous wait to learn if they are among the 5000 set to lose their jobs.

Of the 5000 Qantas employees to lose their jobs, more than 2000 had not yet been identified. Qantas employs 32,000 people.

Union leaders emerged disappointed from meetings in Sydney with Qantas chief Alan Joyce, not much wiser about how the company would achieve its job loss targets.

Qantas workers

They vowed to "fight for every job" but ruled out taking industrial action in the immediate future saying they were prepared to have "genuine consultation".

Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Dave Oliver said the company had refused to negotiate the number of jobs cut or the proposed salaries freeze.

"Quite frankly that meeting has left us with more questions now than what we had when we went in there," Mr Oliver said.

"The company was not able to justify how they came up with the 5000 job numbers and they've also indicated, in addition to asking for a wage freeze on their employees, it is likely they will be looking at a wage cut by opening up some agreements and taking out further increases for the employees.

"The big mystery to us is where they have come up with this 5000 job number and today they certainly haven't been able to justify it."

When asked whether the wage freeze and cuts would save any jobs, Mr Oliver said the answer from the company was no.

"We are deeply concerned that we didn't get the right answers that we wanted," he said.

"The workforce is upset and there are elements of the workforce no doubt that are going to be angry.

"We are not suggesting strike action at this stage but we are saying is that we will be fighting for every job."

The company has committed to further discussions and a meeting has been scheduled for next week.

Mr Oliver said the federal government should step up to provide support to the company, conditional on it being attached to jobs. But he said it appeared the government had given a nod to the company to cut jobs.

''What the Australian community want is a Prime Minister and a government prepared to stand up and fight for jobs and quite frankly since Tony Abbott's been Prime Minister, we've seen the exact opposite where they are just gladly standing there waving jobs goodbye,'' he said.

Tony Sheldon, national secretary for the Transport Workers Union, said the company had no growth strategy for the company and had made it clear the wage freeze would not save any jobs. He said 2600 Qantas employees out of the 5000 to be cut had not yet been identified.

''It is really spitting in the face of the workforce not to have details about how the job cuts are going to occur,'' Mr Sheldon said.

''It is quite clear that the company has come to the table without the capacity to say what they are actually up to and how this is going to save one single job into the future.''

Nathan Safe, president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, said it was still unclear whether pilots would be among the 5000 positions to be cut.

''We are hopeful we can avoid any compulsory redundancies,'' he said.

''It's still uncertain where 2200 of the operational jobs will come from.''

Qantas Domestic chief executive officer Lyell Strambi said the company needed to make tough decisions to protect its future.

"We have to become more competitive and take costs out right across the business including labour costs, deferring and selling aircraft and no longer operating routes that aren't profitable,'' Mr Strambi said.

"Regardless of any government action to level the playing field, we must urgently make the necessary changes to our business to become more competitive.

"The job losses are very regrettable and it is extremely tough on those who leave and on those who stay.''